The dedication attached to the wall of a grave in the ancient Italiancity of Pompeiilaments the abettal of prosecutorial proceedings by a former friend and warns others to void him , reading :
This petty piece ofarchaeologicalgraffiti is roll in the hay as a " curse word tablet " — or " defixione , " from the Romance word for " bind . " It was written by an ex - protagonist of the deceased and put on show for the whole urban center to record after his destruction .
Though it might seem strange today , writing curse word tablet was a common practice in ancientRomeand Greece . But what was the purpose of these objects ( aside from the obvious ) , and who was writing them ? Today , we ’re talking all things curse tablets .
Lead: A Blessing and a Curse
torment tablet fundamentally did what the name implies : They were objects , unremarkably from ancient Greece and Rome , upon which somebody spell a swearword . " The standard definition , " say Stuart McKie , a scholar of Roman history at Durham University in the U.K. , " is that their intention is to influence , by supernatural means , people and animals against their will . " This definition was in the first place put forth by the lateDavid Jordan , former manager of the Canadian Institute in Greece .
All sort of object , from shards of pottery to scraps of papyrus to graves , could be turn into curse tablets . " There ’s one really nerveless one that was indite on a lamp , " McKie says . But the most rough-cut nemesis tablets , by far , were write onthin flake of lead .
Lead is a byproduct of atomic number 47 mining , which was amajor source of wealthin ancient Greece and Rome ( particularly in the Grecian urban center - state ofAthens ) . This signify that there was a deal of extra lead-in lying around at the time . The ancient Romans frequently used it as a cosmetic , or toline their drinking vessel and pipework — a kind of curse in itself .
But they also used it to inscribe messages , especially unity to the gods . assimilator cerebrate that the choice of lead as a written material material was part virtual — trail is soft and therefore easy to mark — but also part aesthetic . " You get this sorting of silvery , unstable - looking line of merchandise against the oxidised aerofoil of the metallic element , " saysBritta Ager , a classicist at Arizona State University . " It just search magical . "
Curse lozenge went in and out of fashion legion fourth dimension across Greek and Roman history . " It ’s much more like little , needlelike minute of popularity , " McKie enunciate , as opposed to a gradual rise and declination . But when they were popular , they were ubiquitous .
" What we can see is that these seem to cut across all societal classes and situations , " says Ager . Wealthy pol would sometimes curse their political rivals or theopposing partyin a legal battle . workings - division folks would curse thieves , murderers , their crushesor thechariot racing teamthat they wanted to fall behind . There are even records of enslaved people using curses .
A “Magical Arms Race”
The wealthy and enlightened could , of course , hand - compose their own curse if they so chose . But many common people may have relied on a third political party for their cursing needs . " If you were n’t literate enough to pen one of these , you could go to aprofessionalwho would do it for you , " Ager says .
These local magicians work kind of like contract bridge lawyer , draught up curse templates for their client and lease themfill in the blanks . Archaeologists have even found nemesis tablets where the name of the person being cursed was slightly too long to gibe in the blank ; the letters had to be smooshed together as a answer .
Of course , where there are curses , there are counter - expletive . " There was something like a magic arm race , " enunciate McKie . talisman to ward off curses like the " evil optic " were — and still are — pop in many contribution of the world . Some curse tablets elaborate protective touchstone in subject the cursed person discovered the spell and decided to retaliate . And other curse tablet even let in clauses to ensure that the swearing circumvented popular protective metre .
Cursing in the Modern Era
So , when did beshrew tablets go out of mode for good ?
The solution depend on how you look at it . By the quaternary century , unchurch tablets in the Roman Empire were becoming scarce . " In some of the former R.C. law code , from Constantine onward , you do begin to get much more laboured policing of spiritual options , " McKie say , " and also , you know , culture change . "
However , the canonical human feelings — powerlessness , frustration , jealousy and choler — that aim hoi polloi to write curse tab never move away . " The same impulse are there , no matter what era you ’re looking at , " say Ager .
Take , for example , Twitter ( which many would contend is dead cursed ) . In 2016 , British Twitter users took their political thwarting to the cyberspace in the immediate aftermath of thePanama Papersreveal . For several days , the hashtag#cursedavidcameronwas trend everywhere . Whether or not those Twitter users in reality conceive they were go to beshrew the then - British prime minister of religion , the substance was clear : This person had done harm , and they want justice , be it divine or online .
In that good sense , McKie and Ager say , regardless of religious belief , we all still use curses . " It ’s only a inadequate step from spreading malicious gossip about someone to writing a execration , " says McKie .
